diff --git a/benches/benchmark.rs b/benches/benchmark.rs
index 23113e5..28500d6 100644
--- a/benches/benchmark.rs
+++ b/benches/benchmark.rs
@@ -10,22 +10,29 @@ use std::io::Write;
 use std::time::Duration;
 use tempfile::NamedTempFile;
 
+// The buffers a case writes into or reads into are created once per case and
+// reused across iterations, so that the measurements cover the crate rather
+// than the kernel mapping fresh memory: for the large sizes, filling a newly
+// allocated Vec costs several times the copy itself.
+
+/// Writes `n` streams of `data` into `buff`, reusing its allocation.
+fn write_many_streams_into(buff: &mut Vec<u8>, data: &[u8], n: usize) {
+    buff.clear();
+    let mut test_comp = CompoundFile::create(Cursor::new(buff)).unwrap();
+    for i in 0..n {
+        let name = format!("test{i}");
+        let mut stream = test_comp.create_stream(name).unwrap();
+        stream.write_all(data).unwrap();
+    }
+}
+
 fn write_many_streams(n: usize, size: usize) -> Vec<u8> {
     let mut buff = Vec::new();
-    {
-        let mut test_comp =
-            CompoundFile::create(Cursor::new(&mut buff)).unwrap();
-        let data = vec![0; size];
-        for i in 0..n {
-            let name = format!("test{i}");
-            let mut stream = test_comp.create_stream(name).unwrap();
-            stream.write_all(&data).unwrap();
-        }
-    }
+    write_many_streams_into(&mut buff, &vec![0; size], n);
     buff
 }
 
-fn write_many_streams_to_file(tmpfile: &NamedTempFile, n: usize, size: usize) {
+fn write_many_streams_to_file(tmpfile: &NamedTempFile, data: &[u8], n: usize) {
     let mut test_comp = CompoundFile::create(
         OpenOptions::new()
             .read(true)
@@ -34,41 +41,45 @@ fn write_many_streams_to_file(tmpfile: &NamedTempFile, n: usize, size: usize) {
             .unwrap(),
     )
     .unwrap();
-    let data = vec![0; size];
     for i in 0..n {
         let name = format!("test{i}");
         let mut stream = test_comp.create_stream(name).unwrap();
-        stream.write_all(&data).unwrap();
+        stream.write_all(data).unwrap();
     }
 }
 
-fn write_many_streams_disk(n: usize, size: usize) {
+fn write_many_streams_disk(data: &[u8], n: usize) {
     let tmpfile = NamedTempFile::new().unwrap();
-    write_many_streams_to_file(&tmpfile, n, size);
+    write_many_streams_to_file(&tmpfile, data, n);
     // File is deleted when tmpfile is dropped
 }
 
-fn read_many_streams_disk(tmpfile: &NamedTempFile, n: usize) {
-    // An unbuffered File, as `cfb::open` hands out.
-    let mut test_comp =
-        CompoundFile::open(File::open(tmpfile.path()).unwrap()).unwrap();
+/// Reads every stream into `sink`, reusing its allocation.
+fn read_many_streams(buff: &[u8], n: usize, sink: &mut Vec<u8>) {
+    let mut test_comp = CompoundFile::open(Cursor::new(buff)).unwrap();
     for i in 0..n {
         let name = format!("test{i}");
         let mut stream = test_comp.open_stream(name).unwrap();
-        let mut sink = Vec::new();
-        stream.read_to_end(&mut sink).unwrap();
-        black_box(sink);
+        sink.clear();
+        stream.read_to_end(sink).unwrap();
+        black_box(&sink);
     }
 }
 
-fn read_many_streams(buff: &[u8], n: usize) {
-    let mut test_comp = CompoundFile::open(Cursor::new(buff)).unwrap();
+fn read_many_streams_disk(
+    tmpfile: &NamedTempFile,
+    n: usize,
+    sink: &mut Vec<u8>,
+) {
+    // An unbuffered File, as `cfb::open` hands out.
+    let mut test_comp =
+        CompoundFile::open(File::open(tmpfile.path()).unwrap()).unwrap();
     for i in 0..n {
         let name = format!("test{i}");
         let mut stream = test_comp.open_stream(name).unwrap();
-        let mut sink = Vec::new();
-        stream.read_to_end(&mut sink).unwrap();
-        black_box(sink);
+        sink.clear();
+        stream.read_to_end(sink).unwrap();
+        black_box(&sink);
     }
 }
 
@@ -79,7 +90,7 @@ fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
         ("n=1000,size=64B", 64usize, 1000usize),
         ("n=100,size=4KiB-1 (MiniFAT)", 1024 * 4 - 1, 100usize),
         ("n=100,size=4KiB (FAT)", 1024 * 4, 100usize),
-        ("n=50,size=1MiB", 1024 * 1024usize, 50usize),
+        ("n=256,size=1MiB", 1024 * 1024usize, 256usize),
         ("n=1,size=256MiB", 256 * 1024 * 1024usize, 1usize),
     ];
 
@@ -90,13 +101,15 @@ fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
         if total_bytes > 0 {
             group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(total_bytes));
         }
+        let data = vec![0u8; stream_size];
+        let mut buff = Vec::new();
         group.bench_function(label, |b| {
             b.iter(|| {
-                let out = write_many_streams(
+                write_many_streams_into(
+                    black_box(&mut buff),
+                    black_box(&data),
                     black_box(stream_count),
-                    black_box(stream_size),
                 );
-                black_box(out);
             })
         });
     }
@@ -109,11 +122,12 @@ fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
         if total_bytes > 0 {
             disk_group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(total_bytes));
         }
+        let data = vec![0u8; stream_size];
         disk_group.bench_function(label, |b| {
             b.iter(|| {
                 write_many_streams_disk(
+                    black_box(&data),
                     black_box(stream_count),
-                    black_box(stream_size),
                 );
             })
         });
@@ -128,9 +142,14 @@ fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
         if total_bytes > 0 {
             read_group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(total_bytes));
         }
+        let mut sink = Vec::new();
         read_group.bench_function(label, |b| {
             b.iter(|| {
-                read_many_streams(black_box(&buff), black_box(stream_count));
+                read_many_streams(
+                    black_box(&buff),
+                    black_box(stream_count),
+                    &mut sink,
+                );
             })
         });
     }
@@ -140,7 +159,12 @@ fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
     for (label, stream_size, stream_count) in stream_benches {
         let total_bytes = (stream_count * stream_size) as u64;
         let tmpfile = NamedTempFile::new().unwrap();
-        write_many_streams_to_file(&tmpfile, stream_count, stream_size);
+        write_many_streams_to_file(
+            &tmpfile,
+            &vec![0; stream_size],
+            stream_count,
+        );
+        let mut sink = Vec::new();
         // Disk cases are slow per iteration; keep the group's run time down.
         read_disk_group.sample_size(10);
         read_disk_group.warm_up_time(Duration::from_secs(1));
@@ -153,6 +177,7 @@ fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
                 read_many_streams_disk(
                     black_box(&tmpfile),
                     black_box(stream_count),
+                    &mut sink,
                 );
             })
         });